1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat transfer and electric-power-generating components containing a thermoelectric device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Compact and light-weight components capable of heat transfer and electric power generation are desirable in a variety of applications and may be especially useful in cooling systems for portable or remote applications.
Protective clothing has been an area of particular interest in the development of compact and light-weight cooling systems. Examples of people in need of protective clothing include workers exposed to hazardous materials, firefighters, police wearing body armor, and military personnel exposed to nuclear, biological or chemical (NBC) warfare agents. The use of protective clothing can reduce substantially the threat from external hazards; however, protective clothing significantly reduces heat transfer from the body, and people wearing protective clothing are susceptible to heat stress, especially in hot environments.
Extensive efforts have been directed toward developing compact and light-weight cooling systems that solve the problem of heat injury to individuals required to wear protective clothing. In "Development of a Double-loop Free Piston Microclimate Cooling System Phase I," Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio (1993), W. G. Atterbury describes a battery-powered vapor-compression-cycle based system sized to produce 350 W.sub.T of cooling for 4 hours weighing 10 kg with batteries representing the bulk of the system weight. In "Energy Efficient Technologies for the Dismounted Soldier," National Academy Press, Washington D. C. (1997), the National Research Council proposes an engine-driven vapor-compression-cycle manportable cooling system having a projected weight of 9 to 13 kg.
An alternative to the conventional vapor compression cycle are heat actuated heat pumps. Drost et al., in "Miniature Heat Pumps for Portable and Distributed Space Conditioning Applications," Proceedings of the Intersociety Energy Conversion Conference, vol. 2, pp 1271-74 (1997) estimate that these systems can reduce the weight of a manportable cooling system to between four and five kilograms including heat pump, air-cooled heat exchanger, batteries, and fuel.
Despite these efforts, there remains a need for a cooling unit that is portable, compact and light-weight and yet provides cooling over extended periods.